Gone Crafting

We are shooting my craft video segments for www.LifetimeTV.com next week, and I am in a crafting FRENZY! So sorry I haven't been posting every day, since it's hard to sew, paint, bead, paper craft and decoupage while I'm blogging. I promise to bring you more crafty things, so do come back and check me out. Today I'm working on circle books, re-crafted 6-packs turned into organizers, and sassy invitations to a girl's night out party. Ta-ta-for-now....

Fantasy Balloon Ride!

When I hit the alarm at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, little did I realize what an experience I was about to have as my feet hit the floot. We were about to meet at The Limoneira Ranch before the sun came up. It seems that early in the morning is the best time for perfect air, according to our pilot, Steve Wilkinson. This photo is courtesy of Dan and Sue Harding from Pacific Images. They were there to capture this early morning event with us, and they were absolutely delightful!












Scott was happily grabbing his camera to snag shots of this breathtaking event for a promotional video by Insight Film & Video. I grabbed mine too, and shot the rest of the photos you see here. I was having the time of my life!















As we rubbed the sleepies from our eyes, the crew began to fire up the balloon with hot air and the giant sheath began to rise up.
















It was amazing. Everything was so calm and beautiful and before long the balloon was high in the sky.
















The video turned out fabulous, and Scott was having those goose-bump moments. The balloon hovered over the magnificent flowers and citrus orchards while we chased in vans with Cindy Wilkinson from
Fantasy Balloon Flights.














What a magnificent day! It all ended with a champagne toast, thanks to Cindy and Steve and their crew. We are going to be doing this again, but next time it will be INSIDE the balloon basket so we get a different perspective. I can hardly wait!!

LifetimeTV.com Secret Revealed!

Yes! I can finally tell my BIG secret.
















I signed a contract with LifetimeTV.com to shoot craft videos for their fabulous new website! We just broke the news today, and I am soooo excited! As a designer, it is a pleasure to be able to share diverse craft projects and techniques with such a huge audience. This is an immense opportunity to bring crafts into the homes of the over two million Lifetime TV dotcom members and to inspire a younger generation to experience the satisfaction that comes from being creative. And yes, you read it correctly, that’s 2,000,000 members on the Lifetime TV website. No pressure! *giggle*













We had a blast with the Director Harriet Ells, as we scouted out locations. I took pics and Scott checked things out with Alex Teague, the Senior Vice President at The Limoneira Ranch in their lemon packing warehouse. What a fantastic place to shoot!













One of the coolest places was underground where they store the lemons. I can’t get over how big it is. It’s like a football field of lemons underground.














Harriet and I went nuts over this particular corner where the big doors close and the roughness of the building is just perfect to contrast with the craft studio set-up.












The aroma was amazing and totally intoxicating in the Limoneira packing house. I would love to take a whole crate of lemons home with me. But it would be a little hard to sneak those under my shirt!

Okay, now that the BIG SECRET is out, you can believe I can start letting you in on all the fab crafts I’ll be creating for the videos on LifetimeTV.com. They plan to launch the segments in mid-September, and we will be shooting them the week of Labor Day. For sure, I’m going to to be one busy gal to get more than a dozen projects done. My fabric stash is going to come in handy. Can you say sew, paint, stencil, glue, and bead???? Stay tuned!

LA Fashion District

My name is Pattie Donham, and I am a fabric-holic. Yes, it’s true. I can’t get enough of that luscious, creamy, silky, textured, graphic, luxurious, kitschy, fabulous FABRIC! And to feed my addiction, my friend and design partner Susan Levin invited me to go for a bus ride with fellow fashion design students to Michael Levine’s and other shops in the Los Angeles Fashion District today. The 90-block district offers the largest concentration of fashion-related businesses in the Western United States.













Going to downtown LA reminded me of one of my trips to Hong Kong, with no air conditioners and shopping out of cardboard boxes. One of the first places we went to, had an upstairs floor filled with fabric for $2 a pound! Of course I went spastic, and before I knew it, I had my arms full of scraps. I only spent $12 there, and got this HUGE bag of fab stuff. I found big buckles for 25 cents each... just begging to be decoupaged! And a bolt, yes a bolt of beaded fringe for 3 bucks. Yowza.















Susan went nuts over the wool and natural fabrics. These places aren’t fancy, but we were box diving and giggling like we were about to get caught doing something naughty.












Where’s Susan??? Another place was all about suit fabrics. It was like a sea of wool and oxford cloth. I found 5 bolts of taffeta to line purses and tote bags in crazy prints like green and black zebra and polka dots. Yummy!













I felt like I was back in Costa Rica when I saw all of the fabric on the street for as far as you can see. My gosh, it was impossible to see it all, but I did get some sweet cotton covered with bright red cherries right off the street.













We walked past the flower market, and the floral smells were wonderful. It made me wish I was working in a fresh flower shop again. The last place we went was an outlet where designers dump seconds and samples. I freaked out on crocheted pieces and trims. Susan found more wool and beautiful plaid pieces. Then it was back on the bus for a ride home with the belly of the bus filled with monstrous bags of amazing textiles and notions, and a bunch of crazy fabric-holics just like me.













I can’t wait to start sewing. I am working on designs for a top secret gig, that I will be revealing soon. Then I can share with you about all the projects for my fabric stash.

Sunday Ride

Today was a perfect day for a ride on our bikes. Can you believe it? A day without crafting!













Scott always rides at least 30 miles up through one of the canyons, but I just ride around the avocado and lemon orchards. He rides around with me on my little trek of 5 or so miles, then takes off on his own. Today we plan to scout out the Limoneria Ranch where they are building bocci ball courts. This will be fun....

Fun, Fun, Fun

Can you say, smooooth jazz, crazy crafts, friendly people, and tons of fun? Well, all I can say is amazing, cool and exciting, because that’s what the Hot Summer Jazz and Art Show was last night in downtown Santa Paula. Rochelle Margolin did a fantastic job wrangling the event, and everyone had a fabulous time.



There were people everywhere! Good thing we got there before the crowd to set up, because it never did get slow. I brought a stack of my new “Crafter's Guide to Glue” books, and sold out!



One of my favorite peeps, Peggy Kelly showed up and I got her picture before she could run away. This gal is the hottest newspaper reporter around here, and I can’t wait to see what she writes every time I open the Santa Paula Times.



The Grooveheads and Bryan McCann were just unbelievable. Their smooth jazz was perfect for the event, and drew a big crowd. By the end of the evening there were about a dozen couples dancing and a little “pda” goin’ on.



My main man, Scott is the dude that makes me look good. I don’t know what I’d do without him helping load and unload, and giving me the goof.



I made lots of new friends like these two gals. Those flower covered chairs got lots of attention, and all of my one-of-a-kind designs brought everyone in to take a lookie-loo.



And to think it all started with my little sketch. I ended up not bringing the little round table, and it’s a good thing because it was too crowded with people.



At the end of the evening we packed up and headed across the street to the Mupu Grill, our favorite hang. Had a nice cool glass of chardonnay and a bite to eat. What a great day. Many thanks to all of you!

Hot Summer Jazz and Art

I'm busy as a bumble bee, getting ready for my booth at the Art and Jazz show tomorrow night.
Here's the scoop from the
Santa Paula Times:

Experience an al fresco evening of classic jazz in tandem with local art Friday, August 17, 2007 from 5 pm - 8 pm in Downtown Santa Paula in front of the South Paseo at 926 E. Main Street. The Santa Paula Downtown Merchants Association is sponsoring “Hot Summer Jazz and Art” featuring Bryan McCann’s The GrooveHead Band and a select myriad of local artists with resident celebrity and artist, Pattie Wack. All art will be for sale through the Santa Paula Society of Art. Each artist will be on hand for commentary. The event is free to the public.

Main Street in front of the South Paseo will be closed and transformed into a courtyard environment. Linen covered tables with umbrellas will be available for dinning and surrounded by art. Patrons are encouraged to bring a boxed dinner from the participating downtown restaurants: Chili Hut, Vince’s, Santa Paula Coffee Company, Mupu Grill, Los Arcos, La Terraza, The Grove, Pamela’s, and Tlaquepaque.For more information, please contact Debbie Johnson - (805) 525-1890 or Rochelle Margolin - (805) 525-2873.




The canopy arrived last night and I could hardly wait to get it up this morning and start working. Here’s Scott after he put up the canopy. Pretty funny. He’s between a double Pattie. I got so tickled I almost dropped the camera. I think the art walk is gonna be tons of fun! I hope there are lots of people there.



My letters turned out so WACKY! I covered them with silver glitter after spraying them with glue, then hot glued old jewelry and junk to them.



I got glitter EVERYWHERE. I might have to invest in a better vacuum cleaner, just because of glitter. Yikes! But I love the Wrights appliqués, and used a ton of them on the letters, and just hot glued them on. Plus, I had to add pompoms to the bottoms of the letters with dangles. Woohoo!



I hung the letters on the front of the canopy with heavy upholstery trim. I was going for a kitschy kewl look, and I think I got it. Now, it’s back to pricing pieces and figuring out where I’m going to display everything. I'll see you all there tomorrow!

PomPom Jewelry

I am going through all of my crates today to pull things out and sell at the art walk tomorrow, and saw my pompom jewelry. These just scream summer! I made itsy bitsy pompoms on my Pattiewack Pom Pom Tool that is sold through Coats & Clark. There are 2 sizes of the tools, and I used the smaller one.



I had so much fun creating the packaging for these tools, because I drew super heros to go with them and then designed comic books that have tons of cartoons with the projects inside. You get a comic book FREE inside each tool. On the covers are the Tassel Temptress and Pompom Pam. They both tell their stories on the back of the comic books. I love pompoms and tassels!

Coootie or Cutie Catchers

I ran across these darling party favors at Cox & Cox, and thought how cute! We made "cootie catchers" when we were in gradeschool, but these are toooo cute. And how easy to make with all the great papers we have available, too. These would be fun for any party, and you could make them ahead to place at each plate, filled with goodies. Luuuuv it.

Craft Fair on QVC

Don't forget that the QVC Craft Fair is today, and our fave paper crafting diva, Joy Macdonell will be showing fab products from EK Success tonight in the 6 to 9 o'clock (Pacific Time) Craft Finale. I can't wait to see her demonstrate the 123D Papercrafting System, and my little projects on the show.




I think you'll flip over the Mary Jane paper shoes. I am going to set my alarm clock to remind me to watch. I've got to get busy on my art show booth, and will be in my studio cranking out price tags and pulling designs out of crates for us to load up. Busy, busy, busy....love it!

Workin' It!

Life is CRAZY right now! That's me in the living room floor, cutting out letters to spell Pattie Wack that I'm going to cover with silver glitter. We just waved goodbye to Scott's parents this morning and I've been working like a crazy-coffee-drinking-craft-binger on THREE huge things. Number one....my booth at the Jazz and Art Show in Santa Paula this Friday, Number two....a brochure for my Creativity Workshop that I'm hosting with Professor James Bethel here at the Glen Tavern Inn real soon, and Number three....a QVC segment that's on tomorrow night featuring our 123D Papercrafting system. Not to mention, laundry, guests, just getting back from Tulsa, and Oh! I've been pouring over the contract for the "secret something" that I can hardly wait to tell you! Whew!

I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning and never really went back to sleep because there is just tooo much on my brain. I had to spend time with my graphics dude today (Scott-poo) to get brochures finished about the workshop because I want to pass them out at the art show on Friday. I had to miss a chance to hang out with a bunch of decorative painters in Camarillo tonight, because there is just too much to do. I want to make about a dozen more necklaces before Friday, too!



I got a call from from my gal pals that CRAFT DAY on QVC is tomorrow and the 123D Papercrafting System is going to be demonstrated by Joy MacDonell from EK Success....YES! So, I scurried around and made a bunch of cute projects for her to show on her segment. I made 2 pairs of Mary Jane shoes with matching purses, a pair of chairs, and these boxes with curves that make them fit into each other. I promise to get the templates up on the EK Success site soon. Just cross your fingers that the QVC segment sells out...wouldn't that be crazy cool? Oh, I almost forgot, you can watch the segment tomorrow night sometime between 6 and 9 o'clock Pacific time. Please watch!

Okay, gotta get off my blog and go over this contract so I can get it nailed down tomorrow and keep my momentum....and sleep soundly tonight...zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Saturday in Santa Paula

We had a glorious morning in Santa Paula on Saturday, with the dedication of another mural, depicting the aviation history of this cute community. I made a few new friends as usual, and this gal, Joyce Carlson, was absolutely a ton of fun! She is the founder of the murals society, and was so refreshing in her presentation of this stunning new mural. We heard funny and heartwarming stories about how that Ralph Dickenson and other aviators built the Santa Paula air strip in the 1930’s, as well as their mishaps like flying a glider into a pepper tree, and flying helicopters upside down!



















Here I am chatting with the incredible artist, Wendell Dowling, who spent several months painstakingly painting the images of historical aircrafts and famous people. I was amazed at how he was able to do such an incredible job of turning a cement block wall with deep joints, into a work of art. What an honor to meet such a cool guy, and someone with so much fabulous creativity and imagination.




This mural is just one of several in Santa Paula. If you get the chance to visit, you must go on the tour, and also take a ride on the train. I feel like I live in Mayberry, USA. I love it here!



Our evening ended perfectly at the Mupu Grill on Main Street with Scott's parents who are visiting us from Washington state. Chuck & Shirley Wilkinson loved the small town atmosphere and folks, as well as the yummy food. It was a perfect Saturday in Santa Paula.

If you can’t GLUE it, I don't DO it!

Channel Six was a hoot last Monday with LeAnne Taylor. We did a live CBS segment on the Six in the Morning show, all about my new book, “The Crafter’s Guide to Glue.” As you can see, I brought books for everyone, and tons of glue projects. My demo was gluing aqua blue melamine cups to black wooden candlesticks, and then gluing on little black buttons and tying a polka dotted ribbon around the finished candlesticks. The one I did on the segment was for LeAnne, so I wrote her name with a black permanent marker. She said that she was going to put it on her desk for her M&Ms stash. (yummmies)



Out of the 73 projects in my book, I brought about a dozen. After all, I had to pack them in a suitcase in California and put them on the plane to Tulsa.



I showed how to cut out a grocery sack and turn it into a circle book, since the pattern is in the book. One of my fave projects is the weeeeeeener dog messenger bag. That pattern is in there, too.



The set-up goes fast at the station, and their kitchen set is just perfect, plus it’s large enough to hold all the projects and the demo. They also have an overhead camera that gets the close-ups for the step-outs.



Casey Norton, one of the news anchors there at KOTV had to leave early that morning, and I hate it that I missed my hug, but it was great to see the crew, and get miked by Kevin. Man, I miss everyone since we moved, but I’m glad that they keep running my segments every Monday morning.



















Scott and I got to the station at 8:20, for the 8:40 segment, which gives me just the right amount of time to get set up for my demo and get hugs from everyone.